Political Junkies - Don't Miss FiveThirtyEight.com

Jessica R. Alexander, J.D., M.L.I.S., Reference Librarian

In my previous posting on interactive election 2008 maps, September 22, 2008. I omitted a major site called FiveThirtyEight.com. Its statistical analysis is very sophisticated and can fill hours of your valuable time in the next week.

Interactive 2008 Presidential Election Maps

Jessica R. Alexander, J.D., M.L.I.S., Reference Librarian

If you are a political junkie, there is no better fix than an interactive Electoral College presidential election map. These maps allow you to create various scenarios for victory by one party or another:

270ToWin is fun. It has a simulator in which the user virtually rolls the die based on polling data.

Pollster.com organizes polling data from a number of sources, and also has a map, with a mouse rollover feature which displays polling data for each state.

The Economist features a world interactive map.

Other maps:

The New York Times

The Los Angeles Times

PBS News Hour

Blogs and the Election - Our New Democracy!

Jessica Alexander, J.D., M.L.I.S., Reference Librarian

Blogs have exploded. Authors include famous people and your best friend. During the next two months election news and discussions will be published at a feverish pace. It could even be said that blogging will influence the outcome of the election. As opposed to an opinion-editorial (op-ed) piece in a newspaper, a blog is published daily on line and usually allows feedback by the public.

Here are a few suggestions for deciding which political blogs to follow?

1. Google - pull down the "More" button on the main page and select blogs; there is an advanced search option in the blog search engine.

3. What are your favorite political magazines, the National Review, The Nation, U.S. News and World Report, The New Yorker, The Economist, Mother Jones... Peruse their web pages and there will be a list of bloggers who contribute to those magazines.